U2’s ‘Claw’ Stage Has Found a New Home

U2 bankrolled the biggest concert stage ever built for their 360 Tour in 2009, and now one of the record-setting structures assembled for those shows has found a permanent new home.

Rolling Stone reports that one of the three "claw" stages built for the 360 Tour has been purchased by the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Salt Lake City, whose founder and CEO, Brent Anderson, has been entranced by the setup since the first time he saw it during U2's stop in Barcelona in June of 2009.

"I didn't even want to walk into the stadium," Anderson recalled. "I was kind of holding up the line because I just wanted to look at it and take it in. I didn't really view it as just simply a functional piece of architecture. For me, it was a dynamic sculpture. It was a work of art."

Now it will serve as a focus point for various special events at the aquarium. According to Anderson, they're considering a concert venue at the site; whether or not those plans move forward, the claw will play host to an array of attractions, including film screenings and a farmer's market. Saying he expects it to stand for "70 or 80 years," Anderson justified the purchase by saying they were "creating an engaging and interactive and aesthetically exciting experience, that's also educational" and adding, "Numerous studies have shown that people are more receptive to learning when they are in a state of wonder or fascination."

The sale of the claw caps a lengthy effort to offload the structures, three of which were built for the tour. While one has reportedly been disassembled, the European claw remains available; as tour director Craig Evans told Billboard in 2011, "It's certainly our intention to see these things recycled into permanent and usable ventures. It represents too great an engineering feat to just use for [the tour] and put away in a warehouse somewhere."